Steamy St. Louis heat life-threatening for some

Tony Bartleson attemps to lure his dog, Murphy, into the water at Kerth Fountain below the World's Fair Pavillion, in Forest Park on Thursday,.

Sarah Fentem | St. Louis Public Radio

The National Weather Service in St. Louis issued a heat advisory this week as temperatures soared into the upper 90s.

The hot weather puts vulnerable people at risk for heat stroke, a potentially fatal condition that happens when bodies can’t keep their temperature low. The old, young and chronically ill are most at risk for heat-related illness.

Two St. Louis County residents have died this year from heat-related illnesses, according to Medical Examiner's Office administrator Suzanne McCune. Both were over 65 years old. Four of the five heat-related deaths in St. Louis County last year were people ranging from age 59 to 86, she said.

“The combination of a chronic illness and extreme heat, multiple medications and extreme heat, when you put all three of those together you’re looking at an older adult who’s particularly at risk,” Berg-Weger said.

Older people are often isolated and don’t go to air-conditioned offices every day, Berg-Weger said. They might be afraid or not physically able to open windows or doors. And many are on a fixed income and worry that using the air conditioner would be too expensive.

“They tend to hunker down and just keep themselves isolated for safety and security reasons,” Berg-Weger said. “Unfortunately, every year we read a tragic story about an older adult who was found in their home, and everything was locked up tight with no A/C or fans running.”

The most effective way to keep older friends and family safe is to check on them in person, Berg-Weger said.

Calls are helpful, she said, but many times the effects of heat stroke are invisible over the phone, and callers can’t see the condition of the elderly person’s home. For example, a caller cannot tell if an air conditioner is working or a window is open.

She said it’s become more common for families to live far away from their elderly relatives and more difficult to keep daily tabs on their well-being. She recommends finding a church group or caregiving organization that makes visits or having a neighbor check on older, home-bound relatives.

Finding relief in cooling centers, public libraries

For those who can leave their homes, St. Louis and St.Louis County operate cooling shelters during stretches of intense heat. The shelters are activated when the temperature reaches 100 degrees or when the heat index — a measure of how hot the air feels — is more than 105 degrees.

Many of the St. Louis County cooling shelters are public libraries.

Public libraries are among the last indoor public spaces where people can gather with no questions asked, St. Louis Public Library Executive Director Waller McGuire said.

“It’s not exactly … our mission to operate as a shelter, it’s not how we’re designed, it’s not how we’re trained, but we do have spaces. We do have cool areas where someone can get in and get relief from the heat,” Mcguire said. “I don’t know if there are many alternatives in some of our neighborhoods.”

He said that libraries can provide a watchful community for people who might not have neighbors or family close by to check on them.

“Part of the community we get to know — our patrons … who’s walking, who’s driving,” McGuire said. Library staff look out for, are concerned about and try to stay in contact often with patrons who are in difficult health who are very elderly and very young.”

This week, the Salvation Army opened a 24-hour cooling shelter in the northwest St. Louis. Other shelters are in parks department recreation centers and certain outposts for the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging.

When it’s hot, health officials recommend drinking plenty of fluids and limiting outdoor time to morning and evening hours.

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With high temperatures expected in the St. Louis region on Saturday, the heat index — a measure of temperature and humidity — could break 100, according to the National Weather Service. That means it’s a good time to take precautions against dehydration and heat exhaustion.

Twenty-five people died of heat-related causes in Missouri last year, including an 85-year-old woman who died while sunbathing at her St. Louis County retirement home. Seniors, children, and people with chronic medical conditions are at the highest risk for heat stroke.

The start of summer means more time outside, but for Simone Townsend, rising temperatures lead to anxiety about safety in her Penrose neighborhood.

“The time frame I start to worry is when it starts to warm up, whether it’s in May or June or April,” Townsend said.

So her 12-year-old son and her grandchildren aren’t allowed to go outside without her or another adult. Townsend said she’s seen violence just outside her home in north St. Louis, and when summer starts, the risk only increases.

Her daughter, Sharon Wade, sits with her on a plush couch and tries to come up with new words to stump the 86-year-old. As her mother’s full-time caregiver, Wade looks for activities to challenge her physically and mentally.

Sharon Wade’s situation is not unusual. Unlike previous generations, an increasing number of older Americans are choosing to continue living in their own homes, rather than moving to nursing facilities. Meanwhile, the high cost of in-home care means that the burden of caring for elderly adults often falls on family members.

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Experts say the face of eldercare is changing, as more older adults choose to 'age in place' in their own homes and rely on family members to help offset the cost of care.